Driver in deadly Herriman crash has previous drug, DUI convictions

FILE - An infant was killed, and five adults and a toddler were injured after a multiple-vehicle crash on Mountain View Corridor at its intersection with Rosecrest Road in Herriman on Monday, April 9, 2018.

HERRIMAN — A Kearns man with a history of theft, drug-related convictions and DUI is responsible for a three-vehicle crash Monday night that killed an infant and left several others with critical injuries, according to police.

Lawrence Probert, 26, remained hospitalized in serious condition Tuesday due to injuries sustained in the crash. Because of his probation status and because he had an active warrant for his arrest at the time of the crash, he is being guarded by an agent from Adult Probation and Parole who will take custody of Probert once he is released from the hospital.

About 7 p.m. Monday, Unified police say Probert, driving a GMC pickup truck, plowed into the intersection at the Mountain View Corridor and Rosecrest Road (13400 South). Though investigators were still working Tuesday to verify, they believe, based on witness reports, that the truck ran a red light at an extremely high rate of speed, said Unified Police Lt. Brian Lohrke.

Just two minutes prior to the crash, emergency dispatchers received calls from other motorists of a reckless driver in a pickup truck heading north on the Mountain View Corridor, possibly from Saratoga Springs, Lohrke said. Witnesses told police the truck was going "really fast."

The truck bulldozed into a Chrysler minivan and a Dodge Dakota. Lohrke said police believe one vehicle was going east through the intersection and the other west. But the destruction from the crash was so severe that as of Tuesday, investigators did not know which vehicle was headed in which direction or even which one was hit first.

A 9-month-old girl in the minivan was killed. Three others — a 26-year-old man who was driving, a 24-year-old woman, and a 3-year-old girl — were listed in serious conditions on Tuesday, Lohrke said.

A man, 34, driving the Dodge was in critical condition Tuesday. In addition, a 24-year-old woman who was a passenger in Probert's vehicle was in critical condition at a local hospital, police said.

Three medical helicopters were used to transport patients to area hospitals Monday night.

Probert pleaded guilty to drug possession, a class B misdemeanor, in 2016 in 4th District Court in Provo, and was sentenced to probation, according to court records. But in December, he was ordered to appear in court for violating the conditions of his probation, including not completing a drug treatment evaluation. When he failed to show up to court on Feb. 7, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

In 2011, Probert was convicted of theft by receiving stolen property and attempted theft by receiving stolen property. He was given a suspended prison sentence and put on probation but violated that and was sent to jail for eight months in 2014, court records state. In 2015, he violated his probation again and was again sent to jail for 10 days. In 2017, he violated is probation yet again and was ordered to enter a drug treatment house.

in 2012, Probert was convicted of DUI in one case and retail theft in another. In 2011 he was convicted of attempting to give false information to law enforcement.